


Equivalent Exchange

by timewarp



Category: The 100 (TV)
Genre: Alchemy, Blood, F/F
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-10-18
Updated: 2017-10-18
Packaged: 2019-01-18 23:35:25
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,924
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12398559
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/timewarp/pseuds/timewarp
Summary: Lexa appears one night at Clarke's doorway bleeding profusely and collapses without a word.





	Equivalent Exchange

Clarke hears a noise by the front door. That was strange. It’s the middle of the night and she lives in the middle of nowhere. She grabs the knife she keeps under her pillow for protection and slowly opens the door. She gasps. 

 

Lexa is collapsed against the doorway. She clutches the stump of what used to be her right arm and is bleeding profusely. Her face is ashen. 

 

“Oh my god,  _ Lexa _ !” Clarke drops to her knees and releases the knife in her hand. It hits the ground with a clatter. 

 

“Clarke,” Lexa rasps. “Help...” and faints on the spot. Blood pools everywhere. 

 

Clarke immediately takes her inside her house and gets to work on nursing her wounds. She is able to get the bleeding under control after a while and wraps up Lexa’s wounds. Lexa is unconscious for the rest of the night and most of the next day. 

 

There is a minor incident when Lexa wakes up the following evening. She insisted that she get out of bed and that she was perfectly fine. Clarke had put a stop to that and sentenced Lexa back to bed rest. Lexa had grumbled but her eyes were unfocused and her movements uncoordinated. She was back asleep before her head hit the pillow. 

 

Clarke wakes up Lexa the morning after to make sure she eats a proper meal. Lexa grimaces at the sight of the food and claims she isn’t hungry.

 

“Lexa, you haven’t eaten in two days. You’ve got to eat  _ something _ .” 

 

With the utmost reluctance, Lexa forces down her food at Clarke’s insistence. She falls back asleep after breakfast which left Clarke alone with her thoughts. Lexa still hadn’t told her how she lost her arm. Clarke was able to stitch up the stump and stop the bleeding but there had been moments when she was afraid that Lexa wouldn’t make it. Lexa, who was normally such an imposing presence, had been rendered into a fragile child through her injury. 

 

_ God _ , Clarke wishes her mother was here. While the two technically lived together, her mother was rarely home these days, busy traveling around the countryside attending to her patients. It hadn’t always been like that. Her parents had been doctors during the war when her dad was killed by one of his own patients. Since then, Clarke could count on her fingers the amount of times she and her mother had been in the same room. The loss of Clarke’s father had been too hard for them to bear. 

 

Clarke walks over to her desk and sits down. She picks up a wrench and hits it against her hand, lost in thought. She sees the mess of metal scraps and bolts across her desk and is struck by inspiration. 

 

\--

 

Lexa stirs sometime in the evening. She’s still weak but is more willing to eat the food Clarke offers her this time. She goes back to sleep quickly afterwards without a word. Clarke continues to tinker around with her idea at her desk. 

 

Clarke wakes up with a start and realizes that she must’ve fallen asleep at her desk. She lifts her head up and a bunch of screws fall to the floor. She yawns and sees that the sun has just risen. 

 

Clarke goes to check in on Lexa only to see that she’s disappeared. Holy fuck. Clarke immediately runs outside and her eyes dart around but there’s no sign of Lexa anywhere. Clarke sighs and runs her fingers through her hair. There was no telling how long ago Lexa had left. Wait. 

 

Clarke goes back to Lexa’s bed and puts her hand on the sheets. It’s cool to the touch. That’s when she notices the piece of paper sticking out underneath the pillow. She grabs it. 

 

“Clarke-

There’s something I have to do. I’ll be back later. 

-Lexa”

 

The writing is extremely crooked and uneven as if a child wrote it. Clarke throws up her hands in the air. Of course Lexa would up and leave even though she’s still recovering from  _ losing her fucking arm _ . She has a pretty good idea where Lexa is but Clarke will leave her be for now.

 

Clarke returns to her desk and takes out a fresh piece of paper and begins to sketch. 

 

Lexa doesn’t return until the evening. Clarke is outside on her porch, swinging down a bottle of beer. The air is cool and crisp and promises to bring colder weather. She spots Lexa far off into the distance. 

 

When Lexa gets close to Clarke’s house, she comes to a stop in front of Clarke. Lexa has mud all over her clothes and her hair is wild. Clarke notices that her bandages are filthy and are starting to loosen. She sighs and pats the floor next to where she’s sitting. Lexa takes the hint and complies. 

 

“Beer?” Clarke offers. Lexa nods. Clarke hands her a bottle. 

 

“Erm... Clarke. Could you-?” Lexa nods at the bottle’s top awkward. It takes a moment before Clarke realizes what she’s talking about. 

 

“Oh shit, yeah. Sorry.” Clarke opens the bottle for Lexa which she takes back. Lexa takes a long gulp of the beer and sighs in relief.  

 

“Thanks.” 

 

Clarke hums. The two are silent for a few minutes while they stare at the open fields in front of Clarke’s house. It’s peaceful out here. It’s Clarke who breaks the silence. 

 

“Lexa...” Clarke starts, not quite knowing how to phrase her question. She shifts so that she’s facing Lexa straight on. Lexa’s face is impassive but after years of knowing her, Clarke can tell that she’s nervous. “Are you going to tell me what happened? With... you know.” 

 

Lexa sighs. “You deserve to know, Clarke. You saved my life after all.” She looks away and contemplates. “I... did something that I knew was forbidden but I had to try anyways. And well, it backfired.” 

 

Clarke furrows her brows. “Lexa, you’re not making any sense.” 

 

Lexa exhales. “I tried to bring back Costia.” 

 

Clarke scoffs, not quite sure she believed her ears. “You  _ what _ ?”

 

“I attempted to bring Costia back to life through alchemy.”

 

“ _ Jesus Christ _ Lexa,” Clarke groans. She puts her hands on her face. “Even I know that’s a bad idea and I don’t mess around with alchemy.” Clarke rubs her temples and sighs. “Start from the beginning.” 

 

Lexa recounts how, after Costia’s death, she had been a complete mess. She’d locked herself away for weeks, grieving over her. Then, she was struck by inspiration. She had gone to the library and checked out every book about alchemy. When she ran out, she special ordered more books. She learned more about the theory behind alchemy and started practicing it herself, starting with basic stuff such as transmuting an apple into a pear and so on. 

 

However, none of the books Lexa read taught about human transmutation, other than it was forbidden. Lexa figured the principles would be the same. She broke down the human body into components. Humans were made of 35 L of water, 20 kg of Carbon, 4L of Ammonia, 800 g of Phosphorous and so on. It took her a few weeks to gather together all the necessary components. 

 

Once her preparations were complete, Lexa was ready. She gathered together all the necessary components in the middle of a transmutation circle. Without hesitation, she placed her palms on the circle and began the transmutation. Blue bursts of energy spiraled around the circle. Lexa was elated. It was working! Soon she would be reunited with Costia. 

 

Then the room dimmed a dangerous shade of red. The blue energy turned into a black smoke. Suddenly, a giant eye opened itself in the middle of the circle and stared at her, unblinking. The black smoke wrapped itself around her right arm. Lexa watched her arm disintegrate before her own eyes. She howled with pain and blacked out briefly. 

 

Once she came to, her arm was rendered a bleeding stump. With great effort, Lexa lifted her head only to see a hideous creature in the middle of the circle. Its limbs were bent at unnatural angles and it gave out a raspy breath. Underneath it was a pool of inky black blood. It gave a sinister smile and reached out to Lexa before collapsing under its own weight. Lexa could only stare, horrified. Whatever it was, it wasn’t human. It wasn’t Costia. 

 

Lexa spent the last bit of her energy dragging herself to Clarke’s house. 

 

“Oh my god,” Clarke breathes out once Lexa finishes telling her story. “I-I don’t even know what to say.”  

Lexa nods, her eyes downcast. “It was horrifying,” she murmurs. “I was a fool for even attempting it.” 

 

“So, today you were-”

 

“I went back to my house and buried the creature.” 

 

They’re silent for a few minutes while Clarke digests all the new information. She’d known that Lexa had been torn up about Costia’s death but she never would’ve dreamed that Lexa would go this far. They were supposed to be best friends but Lexa had told Clarke none of this before. You really don’t fully know a person after all, Clarke reflects. 

 

“So... what are you going to do now?” Clarke asks, tentative. 

 

Lexa shakes her head wearily. “I’m not sure. Sleep. After that? I have no idea. Figure out what to do about this arm I guess.”  

 

“Well, about that,” Clarke says, “What if I told you I might have a solution to that?”

 

Lexa quirks up an eyebrow. “What do you mean?” 

 

“I’ve been doing some research on this new piece of technology. It’s called automail. Have you ever heard of it?”

 

Lexa shakes her head.

 

“It’s like a prosthetic but way more advanced. It connects to your nerves so you can move it like you would with a regular limb. Plus it’s upgradeable and customizable. You can use different materials to help you with different conditions.” 

 

Lexa furrows her brows. “That’s incredible. How come I’ve never heard of it?” 

 

Clarke taps her fingers against her knee. “It’s a pretty new technology. There aren’t many automail specialists yet.” 

 

“Huh.” Lexa looks thoughtful. 

  
  


“There is a catch though,” Clarke trails off. “It’s a painful process and recovery from the surgery can take up to three years.” 

 

Lexa shakes her head. “It would take me six months.” 

 

Clarke lets out a low whistle. “Someone’s confident.” 

 

“So...” Lexa taps her fingers on her knee. “Would you be able to do it?”

 

Clarke hesitates. “I’ve tinkered with it a little but I’ve never done the surgery before. I wouldn’t feel comfortable with you being the test subject. I am friends, however, with a specialist.” 

 

“Who?”

 

“Maybe you’ve heard of her. Her name is Raven Reyes.”

 

Lexa quirks up an eyebrow. “The engineering genius? I know of her by reputation only but I didn’t know you guys were friends.” 

 

Clarke shrugs. “We met through my mom actually. I accompanied her on one of her patient visits and Raven was one of them. We stayed in touch after that.” 

 

“Huh.” 

 

“We can give her a visit if you want.”

 

Lexa nods. “I would like that very much.” 

 

Clarke beams. “Great! But before we go anywhere, you’re going to march back to bed and finish healing.”

 

Lexa stares at Clarke. “You’re not serious?”

 

“Oh, deadly serious.” 

 

Lexa rolls her eyes and sighs but complies. She walks into the house and shuts the door after her. Clarke stays seated on the porch, her teeth chewing on her lips. She was starting to feel uneasy about this. 

**Author's Note:**

> yeah idk lol. i was struck by the sudden urge to write clexa x fullmetal alchemist for some reason


End file.
